Previews Begin This Friday For THIS FLAT EARTH At Playwrights Horizons

Previews begin this Friday, March 16 for the Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) world premiere production of THIS FLAT EARTH, a new play by Lindsey Ferrentino (Ugly Lies the Bone, the current Amy and the Orphans). Directed by Tony Award winner Rebecca Taichman (Familiar, Stage Kiss, Milk Like Sugar at Playwrights; Indecent), the play is the fourth production of the theater company's 2017/2018 Season.

The production has an Opening Night set for Monday, April 9 at 7PM at the company's Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street). The limited engagement is currently scheduled to play through Sunday, April 29.

The cast of THIS FLAT EARTH features Drama Desk and Theatre World awards winner Cassie Beck (The Whale, Prayer for My Enemy, The Drunken City at Playwrights; The Humans), Ella Kennedy Davis (Matilda, Mary Poppins, "Blue Bloods"), Theatre World Award winner Lynda Gravátt (Miss Witherspoon at Playwrights, Skeleton Crew, King Hedley II, The Old Settler), Lucas Papaelias (Essential Self-Defense at Playwrights including Drama Desk nomination for Original Music in a Play, Once, the film School of Rock) and Ian Saint-Germain (Tamburlaine at TFANA, "The Americans"). The production also features Grammy-nominated cellist Christine H. Kim.

At a middle school in this seaside town, the unthinkable has happened, placing a bewildered community in the national spotlight. Stuck at home in a state of shocked limbo, Julie (Ms. Davis) and Zander (Mr. Saint-Germain), two thirteen-year-olds, try to make sense of the chaos they witnessed, their awkward crushes and an infinitely more complicated future - but the grown-ups are no help at all. An urgent response to our times, THIS FLAT EARTH is a startling and deeply felt story of growing up in our confounding world.

The performance schedule for THIS FLAT EARTH is Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7PM, Thursdays and Fridays at 8PM, Saturdays at 2:30 & 8PM and Sundays at 2:30 & 7:30 PM. Single tickets, $39-$89, may be purchased online via www.phnyc.org, by phone at (212) 279-4200 (Noon-8pm daily) and in person at the Ticket Central Box Office, 416 West 42nd Street (between Ninth & Tenth Avenues).

Following THIS FLAT EARTH, the Playwrights Horizons 2017/2018 Season will continue with DANCE NATION, the world premiere of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize-winning new play by Obie Award winner Clare Barron, directed and choreographed by Obie Award winner Lee Sunday Evans (previews begin April 13); and conclude with LOG CABIN, the world premiere of a new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Jordan Harrison, directed by Tony Award and Obie Award winner Pam MacKinnon, featuring Jesse Tyler Ferguson (June 2018).

Flex Passes (customizable bundle, $220+) and Memberships ($45 to join, $25 preview tickets) are now on sale. Packages are available at www.phnyc.org.

A 6-Show Subscription package to Playwrights Horizons' 2018/2019 season is now available ($310, four Mainstage and two Peter Jay Sharp Theater productions). In addition to discounts on all season productions, subscribers receive priority booking and seating, ticket exchange privileges, parking and dining discounts, and exclusive mailings of Playwrights Horizons Bulletins. Flex Passes (customizable bundle, $220+) and Memberships ($45 to join, $25 preview tickets) are also now on sale. Patron packages start at $1,800. Packages are available at www.phnyc.org.

Patron Program Memberships begin at $1,800 (all but $550 is tax-deductible) and include two reserved house seats and personalized concierge service to all six Playwrights Horizons productions, as well as a variety of exclusive benefits including invitations to attend special events with artists, staff and board members. Complete benefits list at www.phnyc.org.

Playwrights Horizons' season productions are generously supported in part by The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Playwrights Horizons is supported in part by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. In addition, Playwrights Horizons receives major support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, the Peter Jay Sharp Foundation and the Time Warner Foundation.

Lindsey Ferrentino (Playwright). Playwrights debut. Lindsey's play Ugly Lies the Bone (Laurents/Hatcher Award, Kesserling Prize, Blackburn finalist, Outer Critics Circle nomination) opened at Roundabout Underground and had its European premiere at The National Theatre in the UK. Running at the same time as This Flat Earth (Edgartown Foundation New Play Award), Lindsey's play Amy and the Orphans is currently in previews at the Laura Pels Theatre at Roundabout. Next fall, her newest, The Year to Come, will premiere at La Jolla Playhouse. She has received the Cole Porter Playwriting Prize, Holland New Voices Award, Paul Newman Award, and is the only two-time finalist for the Kendeda Playwriting Prize. Lindsey is currently under commission for new plays from South Coast Rep, The Geffen, Roundabout and MTC. BFA: NYU. MFA: Hunter and Yale School of Drama.

Ian Saint-Germain (Zander). Playwrights debut. New York: Tamburlaine (Theatre for a New Audience), Flash Gordon (Piper Theater). Television: "The Americans." Awards: Silver Key, 2016 New York City Scholastic Award for Playwriting, BYPN World Dignity Award in Music (sponsored by the United Nations).

Playwrights Horizons is dedicated to cultivating the most important American Playwrights, composers and lyricists, as well as developing and producing their bold new plays and musicals. Under Artistic Director Tim Sanford and Managing Director Leslie Marcus, Playwrights builds upon its diverse and renowned body of work, counting 400 writers among its artistic roster. In addition to its onstage work each season, Playwrights' singular commitment to nurturing American theater artists guides all of the institution's multifaceted initiatives: our acclaimed New Works Lab, a robust commissioning program, an innovative curriculum at its Theater School and more. Playwrights has been recognized with numerous awards and honors, including six Pulitzer Prizes, 13 Tony Awards and 39 Obie Awards. Prior artistic directors include André Bishop and Don Scardino. Robert Moss founded Playwrights Horizons in 1971 and oversaw its first decade, cementing the mission that continues to guide the institution today.